Four main benefits of Fairtrade
The benefits buying Fairtrade produce can be broken down into 5 areas.
1. Fairer trade
Perhaps most importantly Fairtrade offer a minimum price to producers for their produce.
If prices in the global market drop below this level farmers selling to Fairtrade distributors or companies can be sure they still get a fair price for their bananas and won't slip into poverty or make a loss on each box sold.
2. Environment
Within the Fairtrade standards there are a number of criteria that farmers must adhere to which relate to the environment. These include:
- To source water sustainably and reduce water use as much as they can over time.
- To not use any GMOs
- To minimise the use of potentially hazardous chemical fertilizers and pesticides
3. Workers rights
The standards also contain criteria on the rights of workers.
These include the right to:
- freedom of association
- collective bargaining
- non discrimination
4. Social
The Fairtrade price paid by consumers also contains a 'premium'. This is an amount of money on top of the price of the product. This 'premium' is used for investment in local projects and infrastructure such as better sanitation, schools and local medical facilities.
